While Alex is the happiest of the three boys to be back in school, his transition has not been without difficulties. His pinching has increased as—at least, it seems so to me—a coping mechanism to deal with the transition. He’s pinching more at home than he was over the summer and he’s pinching at school enough for it to be noted as an increase from the end of last year.

On the other hand, we’re also getting more sporadic words (pronounced better and applicable to the situation). For example, during Alex’s Ready-Set-Go conference, we started in his advisor’s classroom, even though Alex would have very little to do with his advisor. His teacher showed up—the same from last year—and he tolerated us lingering in the new room for a little while. Then, he took his teacher’s hand, gently pulled her toward the door, and said, very clearly, “Now.” So, we went to the room he knew.

We’ve been hearing sporadic words and snippets from videos or songs in other venues, too. But we’ve seen this before. This time I’m hoping the words will last and the pinching won’t.

In other developments, we were visiting with my grandfather over the weekend over at my mom’s house. As expected, Alex ate spaghetti without sauce or meatballs. Unexpectedly, Alex also ate two bananas. Alex has eaten bananas in the past, but it’s been a long time since he ate them for us. Moreover, has passed over the angel food cake, which used to be a favorite. I got more bananas for my mom Sunday night, so my grandpa could have his banana in the morning. I also got six bananas for our house. I had one. Alex ate the rest Monday morning. So, I’m going to have to get some more!